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Well, it is that time once again, another fine instrument just added to the collection. This time, a 100% custom pen hand made by Renee at Scriptorium pens. Yes, I am name-dropping as I am an incredibly happy customer and there is a bit of history with this pen. Still interested? Please read on. Pics at the end courtesy of Scriptorium Pens. My own pen photography is not this good. A little background history: My partner and I have to work great distances apart, myself in the middle of England, my partner in Scotland, thats about 300 miles distance, which means, for the first half of this year at least, we will not see too much of each other. So, in the wee dark hours, I hatched an idea to get my partner (Linda) something really special. At that point I started trawling thru FPN and fell across some pens made by "Scriptorium Pens", in actuality, a wonderful Lady called Renee (sorry can't get the accent on the letter e). After a LONG trawl thru various designs available, clip/nib combinations then finally choice of material I took the plunge. Here is how it happened. First contact: Email to Scriptorium pens with a rough intention, pen model, materials etc etc. Long wait? Nah, SAME DAY, complete with price breakdown, postage and payment method, all clear, nothing hidden. Too easy. Ok, curved ball time. As the pen was for Linda I had to try and work out what size. Yep, every single bit of the pen custom, including the size. Email time. Second contact: A quick email exchange re size and a query about bracketing (black ends). Almost immediate answers (does this lady not sleep)? This is too easy. How does the work commence? Easy. Spec sent, payment made, the pen goes into a work Q and an estimate is given on timescale (which as it turned out was accurate to about a day). What happens while waiting: Most suppliers (won't name them) this is where there is total silence. Not here. Scriptorium has an instagram site. All pens under manufacture are photographed during the process. I got an email to say it was due up next on the lathe, time to watch it grow. One gets to watch the pen grow from a rough block of something that looks like a rough rock develop and bloom into 3 dimensional art. This process is just truly unique and amazing. Once done: Photos are taken and an email sent which is what I would best describe as a sign off, am I happy with the work? Wow. You betcha. Blown away already. Post: Wrapped up securely and full postage tracking from the U.S. to the U.K. I was able to track it's every single movement. On arrival, it went straight into my overnight bag for my trip to Scotland. Wow factor: First we had to break the custom seals. Then ease the box open. Very secure. Inside, bubble wrap, enough to survive a 30 foot drop. Inside that, a tough flexible pen transport case. Inside that a velveteen pouch with a drawstring. Nearly there.... Nothing is going to get damaged in this packaging, nothing. And then the pen. Oh wow. Stunned. First impressions: It is a light pen. It reminds one of the Conway Stewart Churchill/Model 100 in weight, but much better quality. Sorry CS fans, I have 2 of my own, Linda has 3 and this is better quality. Remember this pen is HAND MADE and custom right to the n'th degree. Quality control is everything and I cannot find a single fault or niggle end to end. Even the finish doesn't have any microscopic polish/cleaning marks it is just awesome. Some serious magic has been worked here. Shape: The Bard utilises an almost identical profile to the CS Belliver which I like, but has a bit of extra girth and is a lot more balanced. The pen in the hand: Is worth two in the bush. (oh that is soo bad) Cost: I won't divulge in case I break any forum rules, sorry. The Scriptorium site does however give a reasonable indication and once a spec has been made, a quick email and one gets a full quote. I like that method, no hidden extras and no guessing. Consider, I have had a pen made, to my detailed spec, using the materials of my choice, with solid silver trimmings, nib of choice, and been allowed to watch it being made from the other side of the Atlantic. How does it write: First time every time. Loaded the pen up with Waterman Tender Purple and away it went. Linda had the first scribe and it just flowed beautifully from her hand. 1.5 Stub nib and it just did the business. Nice. Sorry no writing samples, the pen is now 300 miles away from my sticky mitts. Name That pen: Bard. But we have renamed it to Purple Passion. Filled with Waterman Tender Purple. And finally: To the pen pics, but before we go there, I just want to mention that this is not about a pen. It is about a complete and total end to end experience. Anyone can set up shop and sell pens. To work with a customer from design right up until postage at this level of detail is customer service at it's highest point. I know, I have worked in customer service for many many years. Thanks for reading, and a big big shout out to Renee at Scriptorium pens for making our unique piece of 3 dimensional art. Thank you, very very much. I have added a link to the site below in case anyone fancies taking that leap... D.

I may have reviewed this ink before, but this one is more extensive and on some different papers. For some reason the scan came out sideways. The color is probably more accurate than the next image which is just an iPhone picture. The text reads: "This is still one of my favorite inks. A soft lovely purple. O like the color so much that when Anderson Pens had a special sale of OS inks, I got an 8 oz container. Ink for Life. But it is worth it. The vast majority of OS inks I've used have been totally well-behaved. My Menlo in Amber Tortoise is somewhat translucent and this ink doesn't stain. And it has no problems startiung up from a pause in writing. I don't believe this ink is being brought back in the limited release of OS. Maybe some would call this blue-violet." As seen in this last pic it is fairly water resistant if you quickly blot up with a paper towel.

I'm looking for a well-behaved, lightfast purple for my PFM II. I'm the sort of person who'll ink a pen, and take as much as a couple of weeks to write it dry before cleaning it. I've been known to leave my M200 inked with red-black without cleaning for months, just so I can always have the combination ready. If I find a "forever" color for the PFM-II, it could easily get treated the same way. I had been considering Diamine Bilberry, but there have been rumors which now make me hesitant to use it. I am also considering Diamine Grape. The PFM was the last of the Snorkels, and the first of the inlaid nibs. Has anyone had issues using Bilberry with either of these types? If you've used Bilberry without issue, how long did it stay in the pen?

Well I've decided to start a petition requesting that Lamy makes a special edition purple Lamy safari. Every year when there speculation about what colour the next year's special edition Lamy safari will be and purple is always a popular request, and every year thus far Lamy has not made a purple one. Please help by signing this petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/purple-lamy-safari-edition It is not really a demand like normal petitions, but a request and something to show that there is a lot of support behind this colour, in the end it is Lamy's choice as a business to whether they think it is something viable to produce. If there is enough of us maybe Lamy will take notice.

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I would like a nice, dark, saturated purple, but don't know much about anything other than your blues and blacks. Does anyone make a purple-black ink? If so, who and is it any good? Otherwise, what is a nice dark purple? Thanks, Tom.

First review. This is of Papier Plume's hand-bottled ink, Burgundy, which can be found at papierplume.com or in their shop in New Orleans. It's a nice ink that performs well in italic or flex nibs. My review was color-corrected to represent an accurate scan of the ink. Feathering of the ink is actually zero to very minimal, but my image resolution makes it look a little higher, unfortunately.

Seriously, the names of these Iroshizuku inks will be the death of me. Doesn’t matter how many times I write/type it, I always have to double check the spelling. This ink was given to me as a birthday gift from my mother. Unlike the Shin-ryoku that she got me for Christmas last year, I had specified this color as one that I really wanted. Remember how unimpressed I was with the Pelikan Violet because it had too much red in it? This is a perfect purple ink for me because it’s much more towards the blue side of things. Seriously, I can’t get over how much I love this color. I’m a sucker for jewel tones, and this hits that mark right on. It was also surprisingly water resistant, which is a plus for me since I don’t like to make an ink a “daily user” unless it has at least a bit of water resistance, and I was going to be really sad if this had to be a special occasion only ink. Like pretty much every other Iroshizuku ink I’ve tried, this one behaves wonderfully and gave me no troubles with feathering or bleeding, even on the Field Notes paper. And it didn’t do the weird disappearing act when highlighted that I saw with the Pelikan ink, so that’s a plus. Overall, I really recommend this ink. Then again I might be biased because I think it’s like the most perfect color ever. I also don’t know that I have tried any other inks that come really close in terms of color, so if you know of one that matches and has good behavior and is cheaper than the premium $28/50 mL that we see with Iroshizuku inks, let me know! This ink was given as a gift and I am not being compensated for this review in any way. All opinions above are my own and you are free to disagree with them if you like. Full page scan of the review:

Like the Pelikan Brown that I reviewed long ago, this ink was a solid performer. Good flow, no troubles with bleeding, skipping, or feathering. Not too saturated so that we can see some decent shading, but not so unsaturated that it becomes pale and hard to read. However, I am not a fan of this ink. For me it’s a purely personal thing in regards to the color - this shade has too much red for my liking. I like blue-violets vs. pure violets. Like the Pelikan Brown, there was not enough water resistance that I would trust important writing to this ink. Though I didn’t expect much since none of the Pelikan inks I have encountered to date have shown this characteristic. (Wow, I need to work on gluing my papers on straight!) Like I said before, this ink is a solid performer and handled a variety of papers well. However, it seemed to react in a funny way to my highlighter. At first it looked fine, but then it did that weird thing that you see above. I’m not sure if it’s because of the water resistance issue or a chemical in the highlighter I’m using (I use the Sharpie highlighter with “Smear Guard” for all my reviews), but it is worth noting. Overall, I think this is a well-behaved ink that is available for a pretty low price, ~$12/62 mL. Like I said, I don’t personally care for the color, but if you like the color and don’t need water-resistance, I’m not sure you could do much better for the price save perhaps a Noodler’s ink. For me, I have found my new favorite purple that you will see in my next purple ink review. :-) This ink was purchased with my own money and I am not being compensated for this review in any way. All opinions above are my own and you are free to disagree with them if you like. Full page scan of the review:

Hi everyone, posting my first ink review, I didn't mean to post it at all, made it for my personal reference but realized it could help someone decide (as numerous reviews have helped me), so here it is. I am sure there is room for improvement so feel free to point out what to adjust in the next one. I've got close to 40 inks so I will be posting more as I go through them again. These of course are only my personal findings and may not be as accurate as someone's who's been reviewing ink for a long time. I've only gotten into inks recently even though I've been using fountain pens for years. This review is on Radece Papir Italia, 80g. The best office paper I've found so far in this part of the world. Excellent for fountain pen inks, very resistant and overall performs very, very well. I've tried quite a number of them by now. I want to stay away from reviewing on Clairfontain or Rhodia simply because I don't use them daily and the ink really won't show its faults as much. Enjoy! - Daniel

I love the qualities of Namiki blue: its water resistance and low maintenance. However, it would be nice to find a red which I could add to it to create a lilac purple. Do you have any suggestions for low maintenance reds which might fit the bill; if the red isn't waterproof, I'm assuming the Namiki blue will still be legible if a spillage occured. Thanks.

Here are a couple scans of some pink and purple ink comparisons. All these were written with a glass dip pen on a Rhodia dot pad. I did my best to represent the colors of the inks but as always please remember that what I see on my screen is probably a little different than what you see. I hope that this will at least give an idea of where each of these inks stand next to similar ones I have listed here. I will list the inks in the text also so it will be searchable. Enjoy and I hope these are helpful! http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/f0/d9/29/f0d92944248bba04d46040abc53d79fa.jpg Pink Inks De Atramentis Heather Violet Monteverde Pink J Herbin Rose Tendresse J Herbin Bouquet D'Antan Sailor Jentle Peche Pilot Iroshizuku Kosumosu Pilot Iroshizuku Tsutsuji J Herbin Rose Cyclamen Organics Studio Emily Dickinson Private Reserve Plum Diamine Deep Magenta Noodler's Cactus Fruit Eel Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Budo Organics Studio Lithium Organics Studio Lewis Carroll Levenger Shiraz Noodler's Ottoman Rose Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses (Old) Montegrappa Bordeaux http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/dd/f4/6e/ddf46ef824d6c1de85f67e946d81c5d2.jpg Purple Inks J Herbin Larmes de Cassis Private Reserve Arabian Rose Organics Studio Jane Austen Pelikan Violet De Atramentis Pearl Violet Rohrer and Klingner Scabiosa J Herbin Poussiere de Lune Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses (New) De Atramentis Aubergine De Atramentis Alexander Hamilton De Atramentis Lilac De Atramentis Magenta Violet Diamine Majestic Purple Diamine Lavender J Herbin Violet Pensee Pilot Iroshizuku Muraski Shikibu Organics Studio Vanadium Nostalgic Impressions Purple Monteverde Purple

Recently I’ve started looking for an ink that is available in standard international cartridges and is a color I like and has some amount of water resistance (this really is a necessity for an ink to be a daily user for me). Why? Well, I really love the look of the Kaweco Al-Sport, but it takes carts only and I have no interest in refilling. Anyway, I digress… I like this ink. I don’t love it, but I like it. Reminds me a bit of R&K Scabiosa with that dusty shade of purple. Conservative while still being interesting, I think this would be a definite contender as something I could use in cartridges. Behavior was good, though it initially seemed a bit dry in my Lamy 2k. I think that was just because I wasn’t paying attention to keeping things on the sweet spot, because when I went to write this review it was fine. I didn’t notice any feathering or bleeding and, as you can see, it does exhibit quite a bit of water resistance. As a purple ink, I would recommend doing some other looking around. It’s not the most exciting ink out there, and Kaweco bottled ink is kinda pricey as inks go, at ~$14/30 mL. The cartridges are about $0.50 each, which I think is more or less the standard and we all know that carts are not the most economical thing anyway. However, as a well behaved ink that is at least partially water resistant and available ink standard international cartridges, I do recommend this ink and it will go on my short list if I ever do get around to getting that Al-Sport. :-) This ink was purchased with my own money and I am not being compensated for this review in any way. All opinions expressed above are my own and you are free to disagree with them if you like.

http://www.fp-ink.info/colorcard/132.png As always, light resistance will follow in about one month, images will be replaced:

Hey there. I just bought my first fountain pen (Lamy Vista with a fine nib) and haven't invested in my first bottled ink yet. I would need some suggestions on buying inks. I'm a middle school math teacher. I plan to use my fountain pen to grade papers. I'm looking for inks that are suitable to write on office copy paper or regular school notebook paper, doesn't bleed through too much, and affordable since I'll using a lot daily. I'm looking in the range of turquoise, purple, green and orange. I usually don't like grading in red ink. Does anyone or any teachers here have some good suggestions for me? Or maybe other colors that are not red? Thank you so much.

Here is a brief handwritten review of Diamine Majestic Purple Ink. It is difficult to display the true color of this ink. It has a vibrancy to it but it is definitely not searing bright. It is a medium purple with pink undertones. (When diluted it is a pretty pink color.) I think it is a very nice medium purple and very easy to read. As noted in my review, this ink appears much darker in a wetter pen (like the Ahab) as well with broader nibs (I have tried a stub 1.1 and 1.5) http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/1d/06/3b/1d063b5d998b929012ff08e3d774563a.jpg More detailed photos are here: http://tessymoon.wix.com/tessymoon#!fountain-pen-love/cp8t

Disclosure: I received a 30ml bottle of this ink free from Cult Pens with no obligations. Thanks guys! You have to try this ink! Buy, beg, borrow, steal, ... a sample from somewhere. Even if you do not like the colour and do not care for the shading. There is something about how this ink feels that is tremendously satisfying. The wetness and lubrication is just so. This ink was released on 1 August 2014. The Wikipedia article on Tyrian Purple is interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrian_purple USAGE DAILY WRITER: Certainly. BUSINESS USE: Yes, with the usual caveats about any ink with red components. ILLUSTRATIONS: Oh yes! Can cover large areas. NOTES: Yes. LETTERS: Yes, please! Do send me letters with this ink. LOVE LETTERS: Absolutely! More romantic than passionate. PERFORMANCE FEATHERING: 4/4 - none at 10x magnification with the flex writing BLEEDTHROUGH: 3/4 - very minimal; only seen on the poorest papers SHADING: 3/4 - really beautiful shading that does not overwhelm SHEEN: 0/4 - none seen FLOW: medium - high with great lubrication WATERPROOF: 1/4 - faint lines remain, possibly enough to read the text DRYING TIME: 2/4 FADE RESISTANCE: (not tested) Review [The writing samples are from the instructions of St Cyril of Jerusalem to the catechumens, dated circa AD 350.] On Rhodia dot pad On Rhodia R On our corporate printer's stock cartridge paper

I just wanted to share this since I love pinks and purples but sometimes it is hard to find just the right light shade of pink or purple ink. I don't have an exact formula for this. It is mostly water with a few drops of DMP. I just test it in the pen and use a syringe to add another drop of ink or water as needed. If you want to try this I highly recommend starting with a very small batch. Either a sample vial or directly into the converter is what I like to do. http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ff/94/17/ff9417c09223d961e5c487f399e59ded.jpg

These are my first ink reviews so I'd like to hear all suggestions how to improve them. I've got quite some inks in my collection already (most of them are samples but it's a start) and I will review some more in the future.

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Expect to see more writing samples posted. http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/2014-Inklings/slides/2014-Ink_813.jpghttp://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/2014-Inklings/slides/2014-Ink_814.jpg

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Monteverde Purple Ink http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/58/7a/1d/587a1d93a66aa54d0cc75973e3695a73.jpg I love this beautiful ink! The color is a unique shade of pink and purple united in a lively lilac with a nice variation and shading depending on the pen, nib and paper. This ink is very well behaved for my needs* and performs reasonably well even on cheap printer paper. There is no bleed through, only a light ghosting on cheap notebook paper. It performs perfectly on good papers such as Rhodia, Clairefontaine and G Lalo. My favorite thing about this ink (as with all my inks) is the exact color, shade, or hue. Now this color is unique, I have not seen anything else duplicated nor near matches for this color. The closest in color in my opinion, is Noodler’s Tchaikovsky. However, Tchaikovsky is grainy, thick, and is a very difficult ink; I love the color but hate the consistency and flow problems and I cannot stand the grainy texture. Monteverde Purple is similar in shade as Tchaikovsky; it has that puplish-pink-bright lilac shade that I love. But Monteverde Purple is perfectly well behaved, has great flow, and has a nice smooth texture. This ink is not watery like J Herbin (which sometimes I like) but does not write dry either. It seems to be perfectly balanced and well lubricated without staining my fingers. (Of course this will also vary greatly depending on your pen, feed, nib and writing style.) I highly recommend Monteverde Purple if you enjoy purple or pink inks. This has become my favorite ink and I cannot resist the lovely lively lilac shade! This ink tends to start darker purple then move into its lighter purple pink shade as I write. This is especially true in the Artista Crystal. *My personal preferences regarding inks: I am a stay at home mom and a writer, so I can write with whatever colors and style ink I like on any paper I choose. I have total freedom in that arena – yay for fun colors! Also, I do not perform any water tests. I do not like the “water-proof” inks as they are a huge pain to clean out. This is just my personal preference (although I still have some inks that I consider water resistant – as I am reminded every time I go to clean it out of a pen). I know that some people care a lot about water-proof and light steadfastness. Sorry, I am not one of them. I care inordinately about the exact color, and some people will say this ink and that ink are the same and I can see differences others do not notice. Good flow is important to me too, I don’t like dry writers in pens nor inks. I also prefer broader nibs and stubs. I hope understanding my ink preferences and peculiarities will help you as you read and take into consideration my reviews and how the inks will fit or not fit your personal preferences. http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/54/1c/c7/541cc7b1d3d23d35f2a5bfbe4b1e78c5.jpg Ink Review by Tessy Moon Brand: Monteverde Name: Purple/Violet Paper: Rhodia 80 gm Pen One: Monteverde Artista Crystal Nib - #5 Medium Pen Two: Hero 5028 Calligraphy Pen Nib – 1.1 Stub Flow: Good; not gushing or watery, not dry; perfect. Shading: Moderate shading; offers lovely variations depending on nib, paper, etc. Shading is not distracting or over done. Saturation: Medium; it is not like a Noodler’s ink with an overload of saturation, but it is more saturated then J Herbin inks. Feathering: None Show Through: Slight ghosting in broad 1.5 wet nibs (such as the Ahab – which is a really wet writer). Bleed Through: None Dry Time: Reasonable http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/d3/55/f6/d355f690d92eaa7d365417a31e926fa8.jpg

When I tried Diamine Eclipse the first time, I just loved the color. It was such a unique blackish purple. And it seemed to work pretty well in my pens. So I started using it in one of my daily carries. Well, I've been using it for about six months now, and, while it certainly isn't the type of ink that would ruin a pen or anything like that, I just have gotten so I don't love the way it flows. In comparison to waterman or iroshizuku, it seems relatively 'dry' to me. And, well, I'm tired of it. But I still love the color. Has anyone come across another ink with a similar color?

I'm looking for a bright and saturated medium/ royal blue. Something like Noodler's Baystate Blue or Parker Penman Sapphire. I found Pilot Iroshizuku Asa-Gao. From the pictures I've seen online, Asa-Gao is either bright and vibrant blue, light purple or light (definitely not vibrant) blue. If you have used it, what colour is it? Or what colour is it on different papers/ inks? Pictures from the internet: vibrant medium blue: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cmHjilyUSw4/UAm8hlmA8FI/AAAAAAAACO0/3afleivbjuM/s1600/AsaGao3.JPG light blue http://www.gouletpens.com/v/vspfiles/photos/PN69203-2.jpg light purple http://static.jetpens.com/images/a/000/042/42848.jpg thanks